By Joe Rukin
The dates for the NUS National demonstration and the mass lobby of parliament as part of their 'Funding the Future' campaign have been announced. Both will take place on Wednesdays, so sorry to all your sporty types who might have fancied it (again). The NUS lobby will be on 23rd October with the demo certain to be abused by many as a Christmas shopping trip in London on 4th December. But what message will NUS take to the government on behalf of the protesters? Here's the idiots guide to the NUS Funding the Future briefing paper.
To be honest the paper gives out a bit of a confusing message, saying on one hand how poor students are and how the system of funding needs to be changed, but so much of the main stuff happens to be in line with what the government want to do anyway. With article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Everyone shall have the right to education, education shall be free & higher education shall be equally accessible to all) as a starting point and simple truths such as students live below the poverty line and a widespread, if latent, anger in the country over student finance, you may think that NUS would demand the world. Well no, just a bit of tinkering and quite a few things we already know will happen anyway.
A leaked memo showed how important being 'on message' and not diverting from the campaign objectives is to the union;
"The objectives of this years campaign are very clear, and from these we have been able to develop key messages. These messages are the backbone of our policy demands, but also are the key statements that we want people to know and agree with. Through the various channels of communication we have with the outside world we are trying to communicate these messages to as many students, student union officers, decision makers and influencers as possible in order to change the governments mind about how education is funded."
One campaign objective that seems to a bit of a waste of time is for the rolling out of EMAs (Educational Maintenance Allowances- a means tested form of grant) to all FE students. Despite this move being confirmed back in Gordon Browns Comprehensive Spending Review back in July, it hasnot been implemented yet, but is 'certain' to be next year. After last years pilot, it was feared that Child Benefit to families who have children reecieving EMAs would be cut to pay for it. Although this may not happen, the scheme is waiting to see where it's funding will come from. It is unlikely that EMAs will be availble to mature students.
For undergraduate students they also want a form of grant. We already know this is coming with HEMAs being touted by the government at around £1,200 per year. NUS want £1,750 (£2,100 London), even though they claim that undergraduates average expenditure already exceeds income by £1,845.
For those of you who thought the campaign was about fighting fees, think again. "NUS agrees with the government that those who benefit from HE should contribute towards the cost.". Both NUS and the government are thinking the same way, to move fee payment to after graduation, as happens in Scotland. The arguments are that students find it hard to pay up front, it's a barrier to entry, and that the system would be better if it were administered by the tax office, not the universities. There is no mention in the document of any opposition to graduate tax by the way, leaving the preffered option of both NUS labour leadership and the government -fees paid through graduate tax- there for all to see. And while NUS is against abolishing the interest subsidy on student loans, and indeed saying loans is a fair way to provide support for students, there is no mention of the interest rate which would be charged on tuition fees.
NUS say that to change the susbsidised interest rate on student loans -currently 2.6%- to a commercial rate -they use the example of 4%- would hit low-income graduates hardest, as they would have to pay more off in the long run. This is cetain, but is also true of the current system. Using two examples, they state that at a 4% interest rate a graduate earning £14,500 would pay £7,888.34 back in interest, with someone earning twice as much paying only 26.6% of that, £2099.26. At the moment the higher income graduate would pay 31.1% of their low-income couterpart, at £1,218.76 versus £3913.13. NUS would seek to raise the repayment threshold for student debts to £20,000, which would help graduates in the short term, but mean paying far more in the long term once the threshold was crossed.
Students who are 'exactly what the government want' fair much better in terms of what the national union is prepared to ask for. The government has made it very obvious that due to the lack of schoolteachers and health care workers they are willing to offer incentives to potential students, and NUS has fallen right in line. While the union wants a means-tested grant below what they admit the average student spends for most undergraduates, you have the nearest you'll ever get to an admission from NUS that means-testing doesn't work in their goal of "Non means-tested bursaries for all healthcare students at a level that reflects the true cost of being a student.".
Bachelor of Education students currently get their loans paid off by government once they start teaching, but NUS also wants them to get training incentives and free tuition offered to Postgraduate Education students. Moves are already afoot in the commons to get other postgraduate students access to loans, which is the main policy aim for them, and as for part-time undergraduates and international students, NUS suggests more data be collected, as no-one really knows what's going on.
So now you know? Is it a campaign worth getting behind? Well put it this way, if you just want to show your anger about student finance, turn up for the demo in December. But if you want to make sure that your point of view gets to MPs, you'd better come to the lobby. Oh and if there are any union officers out there, don't hold your breath waiting for publicity to come, it won't until it's too late, so get your own done or get some from groups like the student campaign forum. NUS has an exceptionally bad record on getting these jobs done. See educationet guide to NUS elections and demo publicity and Trent Tent City. The Student Campaign Forum and UELSU are lobbying Margaret Hodge's constituency surgery on on October 21st at 10pm.
